This invention relates to warheads, especially with regard to warheads of armor piercing capability. More specifically, it relates to an improved design of such a warhead that not only has greater piercing capability but also produces greater destructive force once through the target outer armor.
It has long been a challenge of amunition makers involved in making ammunition for Naval warfare to develop a warhead that would inflict substantial damage on an opposing ship. This challenge envolved in developing over the years projectiles of varying shapes, degrees of hardness, and explosive carrying capability.
One initial response to the challenge was to engineer an armor piercing projectile. This was a solid steel projectile without an explosive charge or fuze. It was made of high carbon alloy steel specially heat treated to penetrate armor. Another type of warhead was a high explosive, anti-tank penetrator. This penetrator was based on the shaped charge principles (i.e. where a shaped explosive charge was oriented so that it directed a jet of metallic particles from the inside against the target at for a very high velocity) found so useful in defeating heavily armored tanks. The degree of penetration was not a function of the impact velocity for this warhead.
After ordnance engineers built projectiles that could, under size and weight limitations, penetrate naval armor, the problem then became how to maximize the damage inflicted once the warhead reached the interior of the target. The warhead had to carry an explosive, and that explosive had to detonate inside the ship and generate the maximum heat of combustion and, therefore, pressure.
Typically, steel cased projectiles are used to carry the explosive through the outer armor and to prevent premature detonation of the explosive before the warhead reaches the interior. For example, one prior art warhead uses a cylindrical metal casing and a modified nose plate to achieve a degree of superiority. This warhead is still limited though, in that for the size and weight combination, it utilizes an inert casing which provides only minimal damaging effect once inside the ship. The casing itself does not contribute to the heat of combustion and consequent pressure rise caused by released energy.